Unleashing Automation & Efficiency with Cold Chain WMS Selection
Project Type: Warehouse Management System Selection
A cold-chain produce distributor needed a system that drove warehouse efficiencies and enabled compliance with customer and industry standards. With expanding regulations and increasing customer service offerings, they needed a system that automated task assignment to operators and facilitated daily operations planning, execution and performance management.
We worked with warehouse leadership and operators to select a warehouse management system that supported current and future state operational requirements and delivered visibility to warehouse leadership on warehouse performance and productivity.
Overview
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Company Overview
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- Industry: Produce/Cold-Chain Distribution
- Est. Revenue: $250MM/Year
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Assessing the Landscape
- 200,000 monthly line orders
- 300 warehouse system users
- 5 distinct value-add offerings
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Identifying Opportunities
- Manual task planning and assignment to operators
- Limited real-time data capture and performance reporting
- Rigid system that restricted process configuration
I. The Process
Understanding the Business and Its Needs
After analyzing current processes and identifying improvement opportunities, we built requirements to source a system that fit the client’s needs.
Engaged Vendors Early and Often
We confirmed the vendor understood the client’s critical requirements to ensure the vendor presented a solution that met the client’s objectives.
Selected the Right System for Today and Tomorrow
Considering the client's most important operational drivers for today and the future helped drive our selection of the right solution and partner, leading to a successful implementation and operation.
II. The Solution
Process Map Current & Future State Processes
Understanding current business processes and identifying improvement opportunities facilitates creating a vision for an optimal future state. This vision included sourcing a configurable system that can automate manual tasks, optimize warehouse operations, integrate with other systems and provide insight into your business’ performance.
Determine System Requirements
Defining system requirements connected the improvement opportunities and the future state vision to the capabilities that vendors can provide today. This assisted the vendor in engaging with the client, understanding its problems and needs, and tailoring its solution to fit the requirements.
Personalized Vendor Demonstrations to the Client’s Environment
Incorporating the client’s requirements, operational use cases and data into vendor demonstrations assisted the client’s team in understanding how the system would perform in their environment. The vendors prepared example scenarios that directly related to the client’s needs, confirming that the system could perform well within the client’s operations.
III. Results
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Current and Future State Processes Mapped
435
System Requirements
Defined
17
WMS Vendors Identified and Vetted
1
WMS Vendor Selected On Time and Under Budget
